[Sticky] General Press Cycle

Populism is growing across Britain, with UKIP being a nasty consequence. If you throw populists a bone, they will only get a taste for blood, as the Conservative Party is learning all too painfully. The Montgomeryshire by-election is a chance to buck the trend and stand up for a more moderate, community-focused brand of politics.

The threat presented by Russia and their illegal invasion of Crimea must be taken with the utmost seriousness, and recent statements by the Foreign Secretary make it clear the government has failed to do that. During a questioning period in the Commons, Meredith Hansen-Charles confirmed that the government has not even begun to reach out to NATO. It is all well and good to hope that this crisis can be resolved through diplomatic means, but our country and our allies must be prepared to take all necessary steps to show the Russian government that illegal aggression of any kind against a sovereign state will not be tolerated. NATO was created to promote stability in Europe, to actively protect the values of Western democracy and the people who hold those values dear. At a time when the Russian Federation is displaying a level of aggression not seen in decades the government should be working closely to ensure NATO is prepared to act in the defense of innocent Ukrainians. Instead, we have a Foreign Secretary ensuring that the government is woefully unprepared to meet this threat. We should be consulting with NATO immediately, not waiting for the situation to evolve beyond our capacity to stop further damage as the government seems resigned to do.

William Croft
Member of Parliament for Bracknell
Shadow Foreign Secretary
Chairman of the Conservative Party
Chief Whip of the Conservative party

There's not much to say. The press were very bored, other than locals and budgets and stuff. Cardigan came out of this looking good, bigging up himself and being bigged up by someone - technically - in another party. So well done Cardigan.

The Liberal Democrats have lost all credibility in Government as an independent and liberal force for British Politics. During the budget process they either were not consulted by Labour and simply waived the budget through, or they are equally complicit in the "clerical error". But beyond that they have turned fundamentally into a party that are prepared to waive any old legislation through Cabinet, no matter how illiberal, as seen by the recent Immigration and Asylum Act. Now you can call Section 4's restrictions on asylum applications many things, such as illegal under international law, but the fact that the Liberal Democrats simply waived it through should speak volumes about them as a party. Either they are well and truly Labour's yes men, doing little more than nodding bills through, or they are fully signed up to Section 4. It is time for the Liberal Democrats to step up in this government and actually start restraining the Prime Minister rather than meekly allowing every idea through and then sometimes trying to correct it after.

Conservative MP for North East Bedfordshire
Leader of the Opposition (2014-16)

We have taken the step to amend the Immigration and Asylum Act, proposed by the Home Secretary, to entirely remove the concept of unconditional amnesty for illegal immigrants, and to eliminate the new 'safe country' rule. We have done this because we believe that firstly the flaunting of our immigration laws and border controls does not merit simply being given a free pass to gain residency in our country, which is a total slap in the face for both legal immigrants and British taxpayers.

We also hold the strong view that the UK must meet it's international obligations with regards to genuine asylum seekers, and that already the UK actually holds relatively small numbers of refugees, eliminating the argument that refugees do not stop at the first safe country.

It is vital that immigration is done reasonably and with consideration - not just to those seeking refuge, but to those already here, those seeking to come here, and the British taxpayer. Our amendment to strip sections 3 & 4 from the bill makes it acceptable to the Conservative party. I hope the Government will support it.

Whilst the Conservatives squabble amongst themselves and loan out policies direct from the UKIP manifesto, Labour offers a clear plan for Britain. A plan for investment in education, confidence in our NHS and drive in our communities. Labour has halted the random Tory wheel of austerity which has pared out schools, hospitals and services to the bone. Labour has confidence in Britain which is why we advocate our success within Europe, why we invest in Britain and why we focus on balancing the books and bolstering Britain.

This Budget has been nothing short of a disaster for the UK and for this Government. The Chancellor has lurched from crisis to crisis in the space of a month and has crippled the Government with his errors and u-turns. What is telling is the fact that the Liberal Democrats have neither called for the Chancellor's resignation, nor distanced themselves from the "clerical error", real terms cut in welfare, or unlinking of pension benefits to inflation. Are they merely meek servants to Labour now or are they actively on board with these disastrous policies and errors?

Conservative MP for North East Bedfordshire
Leader of the Opposition (2014-16)

The resignation of the Chancellor and abject failure of the budget really begs the question, are the Lib Dems pilots in this arrangement or are they passengers being taken for a ride? Surely after all of this failure it is time for Labour to cut ties and break confidence with the Prime Minister? If the Liberal Democrats were pilots they would fly away right now, if they are passengers then they will continue to ride all the way to a crash landing on the other side of this.

Conservative MP for North East Bedfordshire
Leader of the Opposition (2014-16)

This budget spectacle serves as a painful reminder of the threat Labour poses to the British economy when they hold the keys to the Treasury. With the most recent blunder over cutting all benefits in real terms causing the pound to slump, the Coalition of Catastrophe's budget has begun to undermine economic growth before it's even been passed! Our country has suffered through what will go down as one of the worst, if not the worst, budget rollout in British history. The total and utter lack of care with which the government has handled the budget process is a testament to how disinterested they are in actually governing. Labour and the Liberal Democrats have been in government for a matter of months, and already they are wrecking Britain's economy and robbing hardworking Britons of the economic opportunity they deserve.

William Croft
Member of Parliament for Bracknell
Shadow Foreign Secretary
Chairman of the Conservative Party
Chief Whip of the Conservative party

Montgomeryshire has bucked the trend! UKIP lost votes and the Tories lost the seat, as Labour and Plaid Cymru voters got behind my middle-way campaign. I’m proud to be able to return to the Commons and represent Montgomeryshire as an Independent Liberal. I won’t let my constituents down in the fight on rural affairs, Europe, and political reform.

Commiserations to Mr. Wyn Rhys-Evans in his outstanding election campaign. Unfortunately he was defeated by a smattering of votes, with only 77 votes being between him, and Mr. Cardigan.

Ultimately this has been a strong campaign for the Conservative Party, and one to be proud of. However this by-election was clear evidence that voting for UKIP is a wasted vote, and one that will only divide the vote and stop parties with a chance, and who are a vehicle for real political action, from winning. I urge everyone to think carefully of who they vote for and use your vote in a way that will help you the most.

The Conservative Party's Alternative Budget is a blueprint for a more prosperous, more secure, and more innovative Britain. In his speech unveiling the budget, the Shadow Chancellor presents a path forward for Britain's economy that is optimistic and rooted in the belief that one's own merit should be the sole determining factor in their success. It's a budget that grows the economy by putting more money into people's pockets, by unleashing the potential of British job creators, and by investing in British business and infrastructure. It's also a budget that upholds the commitments we made to you, the British people, on issues like deficit reduction, protecting pensions, and creating millions of new apprenticeships over the next 5 years.

The contrast between the Government's budget and the Alternative Budget could not be more clear. The Conservative Party has released a budget that would bolster the British economy and make good on the promises we made during the election. The Government, on the other hand, released a budget built on broken promises and backwards economic policy, only to be withdrawn from Parliament and to see its author sacked from the Cabinet. The Careless Coalition has made their attempt at a budget, and now the Conservative Party has stepped in with a real plan to grow Britain's economy.

There's only one budget that invests in British business, only one budget that will see the deficit eliminated by 2018, and in fact, as of this morning, there's only one budget. Period! While the Government continues to struggle to put together a semi-comprehensible budget, the Conservative Party remains ready and prepared to take leadership over Britain's economy and our country's future.

William Croft
Member of Parliament for Bracknell
Shadow Foreign Secretary
Chairman of the Conservative Party
Chief Whip of the Conservative party

The Alternative Budget released this week by the Conservative Party is a budget for a working Britain. It's a budget that delivers on the promises we made to the British people in the last election cycle: eliminating the deficit by 2018, reducing the tax burden on hardworking Britons and small businesses, and investing hundreds of millions of pounds into the NHS. While the country suffers as a result of the Government's disastrous budget of broken promises, the Alternative Budget is a powerful testament to the direction our country could and should be going in. The Conservative Party is prepared to step up and provide the leadership the Government so desperately lacks, and the Alternative Budget is a statement to the British people about how much better things can be when real leaders occupy the Government benches.

William Croft
Member of Parliament for Bracknell
Shadow Foreign Secretary
Chairman of the Conservative Party
Chief Whip of the Conservative party

Since day one, the Government's budget roll out has been a parade of excuses and unmet expectations. The Government knows their budget is a mess, they know they lack a coherent plan for Britain's future, and they know they can no longer hide their incompetence from the British people. The Government says they're going to eliminate the deficit, but they won't tell us how. They tell us not to worry about the lack of prison capacity because they have a plan to reduce crime, but they won't tell us what it is. They're not hiring enough doctors and nurses to staff the hospitals they're building, but assure us they'll get to it. The Government is playing for time, and they're risking Britain's future in thee process.

William Croft
Member of Parliament for Bracknell
Shadow Foreign Secretary
Chairman of the Conservative Party
Chief Whip of the Conservative party

What has this Government achieved since the election? Their budget was withdrawn because it was quite literally so bad the Cabinet forced the Prime Minister to sack her Chancellor, the Radical Reform Bill is so extreme vast swathes of the Labour Party are unable to support it and it is turning otherwise pro-reform parties against it, and they attempted to break international law with their refugee reform that they quietly had to drop after Conservative Party pressure. It is clear that this Government have no idea how to govern, they are merely lurching from crisis to crisis with no plan in an attempt to cover up the previous mess and distract from it, in short they are unfit to govern. The Conservative Party have provided clear and credible opposition every step of the way: forcing the budge to be withdrawn, leading opposition to the Radical Reform Bill, and forcing government u-turn after government u-turn. If Labour and the Liberal Democrats are unwilling or unable to lead properly then they must give way to an election and people who can lead.

Conservative MP for North East Bedfordshire
Leader of the Opposition (2014-16)